The Rural Economist & Bringing Rural Back Podcast: devotion

Thursday, May 7, 2015

Principle vs Fashion: Wednesday Devotion

Principle vs Fashion

Luke 6: 48-49 (KJV)

48 He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock.

49 But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.

I have heard this scripture preached on dozens of times. Every time the emphasis has been on doctrine and why not that is the way Jesus explained it as well. I however believe that this passage applies to more. We are going to take some time to examine just how deep these two verses can be.

What is doctrine?

Doctrine is defined as a belief or set of beliefs held and taught by a church, political party, or other group

You can see from this definition that a doctrine can be anything taught by more than one person. By this definition not only does every religion have a doctrine, but every family does as well. Their doctrine are the beliefs that shape the way they interact with each other, their environment and the world. It is the foundation upon which they build themselves as an individual and as a group.

What is a foundation?

The word foundation has been used for a few different things.
(1) the lowest load-bearing part of a building or structure typically underground
(2) the underlying principles upon which a belief is founded

There are other meaning used for foundation now, but these are the two we are concerned with in this post. In this short parable Jesus refers to a buildings foundation as a descriptive of His teachings.

The best foundation is bedrock. If you have ever gotten stuck in the mud in a vehicle you know that dirt or soil will sink and even squish out from under an object. When building a structure you really do not want to just build it on top of the soil. That could be okay if you were building a temporary structure, but for a permanent dwelling a foundation is required.

When a person builds a structure on the ground without a foundation settling will occur. Settling is when the dirt under the load bearing portions of the structure compact. This might be acceptable if all of the ground settled the same amount, but it never does. Some parts will sink more than others. I am sure you have seen commercials for foundation repair services. If these structures had been built on a firm foundation, these repairs would be unnecessary.

The problem is that we as a people are always looking for shortcuts. All of the modern day foundations or footers are man made. Modern foundations are made of concrete and rebar. If these foundations are too thin the foundations will crack and settling will occur.

Sometimes we build our lives on principles that are thin. Building our lives on what society considers fashionable is a very thin foundation. Fashion is always changing, if a person based their lives on societal norms, their basic beliefs will always be changing. I understand that sometimes core beliefs can change but those changes should happen as a result of deep thought or sometimes even an epiphany.

What are good principles?

God first, family second, hard work, and what you do will come back to you.

God first. I know this is very unpopular. I know that a lot of people look at the Bible as a book of don'ts. There are a lot of don't dos in the book, but there are a lot more dos in the Bible than people realize.

Family second. There are a lot of people who will abandon you when time gets tough. If you have a close knit family they will stand by your side. Family will walk through blazes and grin on the journey.

Hard work does not necessarily mean for a corporate entity. Hard work is a continual diligent improvement of your own situation. This diligence can be on a job, in your garden, in a relationship, anything that is of value to you.

Karma, or at least that is what most people call it today is based on a spiritual principle. Everything we do will bring a harvest. When we do good things, good things will come back to us. When we do bad things, bad things will come back to us. It is the sowing and reaping thing again. Simple and logical.

Having deep held principles can and should guide should guide our actions and reactions. The Bible has been under attack, but the scriptures still hold the best guide for everyday life. If we apply those truths our world would be a better place.

Life Based on Fashion

A life that is founded on what is currently socially acceptable or fashionable tends to be materialistic, self centered, and indulgent. Decisions are based on immediate gratification. We live in a drive thru wold. Fashion is selfish and ever changing.

There are people who call themselves Christians who don't have strong held principles and there are folks who have never been to a church that are solidly grounded in what they believe.

When hard times come, and believe me they will, having a foundation of time honored principles will see you through. Build your life on a firm foundation, the rock of principles, not the shifting sands of fashion.

I hope you are finding these devotions beneficial.

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Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Man Was Created from the Soil

Genesis 1:26-30 King James Version (KJV)

26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.

30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.

Genesis 2:7 New King James Version (NKJV)

7 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

Every other creature was spoken into existence. Man and woman were actually formed by the hand of God out of the soil of the ground. No mater what your beliefs are, you cannot deny that after our body dies and decays it becomes soil again.

Mankind was God's special creation. We were created to commune with God. God doesn't need us, but he wants us to be his friends and family. I am sure you know what I mean. There are a lot of things that we want but really do not need.

Everything that man needs to survive and to thrive physically is provided by the earth, God's creation. God gave mankind dominion over all the earth. Dominion, not to abuse or rape the earth, but to be a good steward of the bounty the earth can provide. Since the very beginning seed time and harvest were initiated and they shall remain as long as this earth continues.

I believe one of our biggest problems in society today is we are living in a fabricated world. The world we live in would have been a wild fantasy a hundred years ago. There have been barbaric times throughout history, but in all honesty we live in barbaric times now, oh we think we have culture because of all of the stuff we have around us. Think about it the reasons a person is murdered today are the same reasons a person was murdered a thousand years ago, possessions, emotions, and power.

When a person first truly looks at the soil they are truly amazed. In a single handful of healthy soil there are millions of tiny living creatures. Some of these creatures you can see many you can't. Most of the life in that handful of dirt is so small that only a microscope can bring them into focus.

The farther we get away from the soil the more difficult it is for us to connect with God. The soil, the garden, in fact all of nature proclaims to me there is a God and he loves us. I know there are scientific reasons for a lot of things that I think are glorious, but a rose does not have to be beautiful to get insects to pollinate them, they do not have to smell so good. I believe the earth was created for our pleasure and for us to experience God.

I have had people ask me why I want to know about all of the edible and medicinal plants that grow wild. To many people that is so strange when there is a grocery store only a few miles away. Verse 29 holds the answer.

I firmly believe that in plants there is a cure for every disease that we will ever come in contact with. I do not believe that God created this earth just for existence and for beauty. I believe he created this place because he knew we would fall, he knew all of the things we would face and he built in the answers to every challenge. I find the fingerprint of God in nature quite often, if you look close you might too.

Man was created from the soil, sustained by the soil, and our body will return to the soil, all for the glory of God.

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